We all know that social media is the first place to turn for information, but what about when it comes time to make a purchase? It turns out that even though we use different channels for discovery and decision-making, there are still some universal truths.

One of these truths is that when people decide they want something, they don’t want to talk about it impersonally. Instead, they prefer to have a conversation with someone who can answer their questions and understand their needs.

That’s whyconversational marketing matters more than ever–because you’re not just selling your products or services from behind your screen. Instead, you’re building relationships with potential customers by providing them with relevant content in places where they already spend some of their time.

This is a shift in thinking. It means that conversational marketing extends beyond email and into social media, texting, messaging apps like WhatsApp and Slack–and even on your contact page.

This blog discusses the basics of conversational marketing, how to execute it effectively, its comparison with inbound marketing, and what role chatbots play in it. In the end, we’ll talk about conversational marketing trends and how they’re changing in 2021.

What is Conversational Marketing?

Let’s start by understanding what conversational marketing is and why it’s essential.

Conversational marketing tries to build relationships with customers by establishing trust through conversations and making the purchasing process convenient and straightforward.

Conversational marketing begins when customers reach out to you. As such, it’s as much about answering your customer’s questions and concerns as it is about creating content they’re interested in.

This approach does not imply abandoning PPC in favor of conversions; instead, it is a new tool available to marketers and a somewhat different way of thinking about conversion goals. That’s because conversational marketing prioritizes forming a connection with a user over making a sale.

This particular type of marketing is a dialogue-driven approach to engaging website users and converting leads. This type of inbound marketing focuses on interactions with customers rather than a one-way message from the company.

Conversational marketing strives to build long-term connections with customers by establishing trust via meaningful discussions and making the purchasing process more accessible.

How to Perform Conversational Marketing Incisively?

Conversational marketing is based on one-to-one interactions in real-time across multiple channels. It enables you to foster customer relationships and by communicating and customizing interactions online. Live chat, chatbots, and messaging apps enable these personalized conversations.

This conversational marketing strategy is more data-driven, so it provides you with unprecedented insight into your customers’ behavior and preferences. And as a result, conversational marketing generates higher conversion rates and increased customer lifetime value compared to other digital channels.

Conversational marketing has become more accessible thanks to chatbots in particular. Businesses often group the two solutions as the same thing, but chatbots are only one component of conversational marketing. We’ll talk more about chatbots later on.

Holistically, however, conversational marketing occurs across the digital world, from personalized messages on social media platforms to emails based on previous user behavior.

Conversational Marketing VS. Inbound Marketing

Does inbound and conversational marketing, then, have a difference?

The “pull” tactic is inbound to attract clients across the channels. On the other hand, conversational marketing is the way to talk to clients in these channels effectively.

This type of marketing is how you interact with clients, giving them the power to communicate when, how, and wherewith brands. Both are customer-centered by nature and go together.

The convergence of conversational marketing and inbound marketing creates conversational inbound marketing. It makes sense to adjust your views on conversing with clients in the conversational age because conversing will be “normal” for the next generation.

It is hard to put the finger on how conversing affects business other than being an efficient method. Still, conversational marketing should be based on the fundamental rules of every conversational system.

This means that conversational marketing is not about becoming friends with your clients; it’s simply about being there for them when they need you.

Chatbots in Conversational Marketing

Given what we’ve discussed above, it’s easy to see why chatbots are an essential part of conversational marketing. They allow companies to be available for a conversation at any time while allowing consumers the choice to engage with the company.

As we’ve seen, the popularity of chatbots is only rising. For example, in 2018, Google announced that customers are 30% more likely to purchase from a business using a conversational marketing strategy.

In addition, artificial intelligence chatbots present a whole new dimension of conversational marketing. This dimension is because these chatbots can engage with users without a human customer service representative. As such, chatbots make up a significant part of the overall conversational marketing strategy for many companies.

Conversational Marketing in 2021

Conversational Marketing will not only give birth to entirely new categories of Conversational Commerce, but it will also become a natural extension of how we buy into conversational marketing.

We already see Conversational Commerce emerging in chatbots and voice assistants and email, SMS, and social media marketing. Conversational tools will be in every marketer’s toolkit soon, and conversational marketing will expand far beyond chatbots today. For example, conversational interfaces will naturally interact with all brands – from conversational commerce to conversational entertainment.

The value of conversational marketing is already being demonstrated by some highly innovative marketers and conversational innovators, like Zara. It’s easy to see why conversational marketing will take the world by storm as a simple way for consumers to buy products and have fun conversing with brands.

But conversational marketing only scratches the surface of possible innovations within conversational interfaces, including conversational decision-making, conversational commerce, and conversational entertainment.

Conversational AI is already showing incredible potential for solving problems and improving how we live our lives today. And it’s just getting started. Conversational AI will only become more potent as future conversational interfaces continue to build on the conversational AI infrastructure we’re developing now.

Conversations with machines are nothing new, but conversational AI is the next evolution of human-machine interaction. It uses a combination of conversational interfaces and natural language understanding (NLU) in order.

Today conversational AI is everywhere, but conversational commerce is still in its infancy. Even though conversational commerce offers companies opportunities for generating additional revenue and capturing consumer engagement, conversational interface integration into e-commerce efforts lags behind conversational use by consumers themselves.

Conversational Marketing Trends

What might conversational marketing look like in the future? How will it impact the consumer experience? What do companies need to know about the future of artificial intelligence and its implications for consumers and brands alike? Below are a few trends that can help us make sense of these questions.

Consumers’ growing demand for conversational commerce will make automated customer service ever more integral to brands’ bottom lines. As expectations rise, consumers and companies alike will have very high standards for artificial intelligence delivering an optimized customer experience.

In addition, The Intelligent Assistant market is expected to reach $44 million by 2027, with the majority of growth coming from B2B and business-to-business (B2B) applications.

But there’s an important distinction between how consumers leverage technology for personal reasons versus how they want brands to serve them. Consumers want to engage with brands on their terms; in a way that feels natural.

To keep up, businesses will have to consider how they transition from traditional marketing to conversational marketing trends, making it easy for customers to find and interact with them through new channels like messaging apps or by modernizing existing platforms like a live chat software.

How can Accurate Digital Solutions Help You With Conversational Marketing?

We at Accurate Digital Solutions have helped dozens of clients with their conversational marketing across multiple platforms. From chatbot implementation to personalized email marketing, we offer many services that can help you engage more meaningfully with your customers.

Did you know that LinkedIn personal messaging is a prime example of conversational marketing? Accurate Digital Solution experts are adept at getting maximum conversions from LinkedIn personalized messaging. So contact us today and sign up for our services!